Jenílson Brito Rodrigues

Jenílson Brito Rodrigues (born 6 December 1978), better known as Mão, is a Brazilian former beach soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He is a record five-time winner of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017) and won the Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) award at Dubai 2009. Additionally, he holds the record for the most appearances at the World Cup and indeed all FIFA competitions (52), and is the most capped-Brazilian player ever.

Career

Mão has stated his desire was always to be a goalkeeper. He came from a poor background and therefore had to borrow a friend's bicycle to attend training whilst also sourcing second hand gloves and boots. Ultimately, he couldn't afford proper training sessions for 11-a-side football and thus switched to futsal.

He ultimately entered professional beach soccer in 2000, aged 21, in his home state of Espírito Santo. He was first called up to the Brazil national team in 2004, aged 25. At first, he was subordinate to Robertinho and Pierre; included in Brazil's 15-man shortlist for the 2004 World Championships, Mão was ultimately one of three players left out of the final squad, with the aforementioned preferred over him. He was shortlisted again for the 2005 World Cup, but found himself cut from the final 12 once more. However, in the summer of 2005, Alexandre Soares became Brazil's new manager and made major changes to the squad, shunning longstanding squad members such as Robertinho, with Soares favouring Mão instead. He subsequently attended his first World Cup in 2006, a tournament Brazil won, and was ultimately voted as the best goalkeeper of the tournament, winning the coveted Golden Glove award. Mão then reached 150 caps in August 2011 against Chile at the South American World Cup qualifiers. 200 games for Brazil was achieved in an 8–3 victory against Senegal at the 2013 World Cup.

In 2014, Mão claimed he was a victim of verbal racist abuse by an unnamed Uruguayan player in a 9–3 win at the South American Beach Games, the first time he experienced such abuse in his career.

Mão's 250th appearance for Brazil was realised in January 2016 at the Copa Sudamericana. he was the only surviving squad member from Brazil's last World Cup triumph eight years prior. Later that year, in November, he became just the third Brazilian player to reach 300 caps, when playing against Iran in the semi-finals of the 2017 Intercontinental Cup, and was named as part of the world team of the year just days later at the Beach Soccer Stars awards ceremony.

Mão has since gone on to make more appearances for Brazil than any other player, surpassing Benjamin's previous record of 339, Days later, he became the first player to reach the milestone of 50 appearances at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the quarter-finals against Russia, a game in which he scored but Brazil ultimately lost. That year, Mão also stated his intention to continue playing until 2023;

Style of play Mão has been described as being an on-field perfectionist and thus having a "grumpy" persona during matches.

Personal life Rodrigues says his nickname, Mão, is commonly misconceived to have been bestowed upon him due to his status as a goalkeeper (mão meaning "hand" in Portuguese). In reality, as a child, he struggled with pronouncing "irmão" (meaning "brother" in Portuguese) when referring to his older sibling, instead only being capable of enunciating the latter half, "mão". This led to Rodrigues himself being labelled "Mão", a nickname which has remained with him ever since. and has four children. As of 2023, he was a university professor in sports and was also studying a post-graduate degree.

Statistics Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 6 0 2007 6 0 2008 6 0 2009 6 0 2011 6 0 2013 6 0 2015 4 1 2017 6 1 2019 4 1 2021 2 0 Total 52 3 —

Honours As of May 2022

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major honours Mão has achieved:

Country Global FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Winner (5): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017 World Beach Games Winner (1): 2019 Intercontinental Cup Winner (3): 2014, 2016, 2017 Mundialito Winner (7): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017

Regional CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Winner (8): 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 Copa América Winner (2): 2016, 2018 South American Beach Games Winner (4): 2009, 2011, 2014, 2019 South American Beach Soccer League Winner (3): 2017, 2018, 2019 Copa Latina Winner (3): 2005, 2006, 2009

Mão celebrating with his teammates after winning the 2015 World Cup qualifiers.

Individual FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (1): Golden Glove: 2009 Beach Soccer Stars (4): World's top 3 best goalkeepers: 2017, 2018, 2019 World dream team: 2017 Intercontinental Cup (4): Best player: 2014 Best goalkeeper: 2011, 2014, 2017 CONMEBOL qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (3): Best goalkeeper: 2009, 2011, 2017 Copa América (1): Best goalkeeper: 2016 Mundialito (3): Best goalkeeper: 2008, 2009, 2017 Copa Latina (2): Best goalkeeper: 2009, 2011 Mundialito de Clubes (2): Best player: 2013 Best goalkeeper: 2013